The present invention relates to semiconductor device fabrication and integrated circuits and, more specifically, to structures with altered crystallinity beneath semiconductor devices and methods associated with forming such structures.
Bulk silicon substrates are less costly than silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. Generally, an SOI substrate includes a thin device layer of silicon, a handle substrate, and a thin buried oxide (BOX) layer physically separating and electrically isolating the device layer from the handle substrate. Devices fabricated using SOI technologies may exhibit certain performance improvements in comparison with comparable devices built in a bulk silicon substrate. For example, in contrast to an SOI substrate, a bulk silicon substrate is characterized by poor device isolation from harmonic generation.
Improved structures that provide the advantages of an SOI substrate absent the cost and methods of forming such structures are needed.